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So Steven Purcell and his pal Ruth Black escape a spell in the dock. STV News

Purcell was supposed to have been worried that Glasgow gansters had footage of him snorting cocaine. I’m not sure why he thought it was a good idea to be hanging around with gangsters in the first place. Maybe that’s normal practice for Glasgow city councillors?

There was also concern over the £50,000 of council money he tried to funnel into Ruth Black’s new LGBT centre. The worry being that the last one she helped run went bust owing thousands.

She also forgot to pay the tax and national insurance of the employees. Oh they managed to deducted the money from people wages, yeah that bit was fine, it was the passing it on to the tax office that seemed to be the tricky part. Labour ended up suspending Black.

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Evening Times
THREE Labour councillors have struck an alliance with SNP rivals in an attempt to overturn a decision by the city council on the closure of a special needs school in Glasgow.

The move sees three members of the ruling administration in the north of the city join forces with two Nationalists to use city council procedures to thwart the plans to integrate children at the Gadburn school into a nearby mainstream primary.

The Labour councillors, including Gerry Leonard, a major party figure in the Springburn area, and their SNP rivals are upset that the head of education, Cllr Jean McFadden, is alleged to have said only a Nationalist elected member raised an objection to the plans.

Mr Leonard and colleagues Gilbert Davidson and Catherine McMaster dispute this and have signed up to the SNP plan to have last month’s decision revisited.

They claim the education department has been too hasty in its plans to shut Gadburn and that most parents are fearful of the impact of integration with a mainstream primary on their children.

We have been talking to parents to get a workable plan
Instead, they have been championing a joint campus with Barmulloch Primary.

Under council rules, five elected members are required to sign a “call-in” notice to have the decision revisited.

It is understood this is the first time there has been a clear bipartisan strategy involving Labour members to undo an administration decision.

Councillor Grant Thoms, who instigated the call-in, said: “The education department is being too hasty at attempting to close Gadburn Special School.

“Councillors have been talking to parents to get a workable plan so the two schools could share the same building in Germiston but keep their separate identities.

“I have no doubt co-location is the way forward to give parents and pupils time to adjust to such a drastic change.

A council spokeswoman said: “A call-in allows scrutiny and enables local elected members to support their constituents.”

A UK wide campaign called UK Uncut has been working hard over the last 14 months to expose tax dodging companies like Vodafone and Sir Philip Green‘s Topshop, among many others. It’s been estimated that Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has been going soft of their unpaid bills to the tune of £25 BILLION. After along hard slog, today the subject has made it to the top of the news.

These are not struggling companies, and in the case of Vodafone one year’s profit would comfortably clear it’s outstanding tax debt. The government says we need to slash public spending to balance the books, so why are profit rich companies being allowed to dodge billions in tax?

There’s been a number of protests in Glasgow over the past year. To get involved and help get the money back we’re all due, keep an eye on UK Uncut’s Action List.

Topshop Protest - Argyle Street last week (17/12/11)

Store security seemed to mostly ignore the protesters, focusing more on the press photographers, preventing them from taking any pictures.

Demanding a replacement for soon to close Accord day care centre for people with learning disabilities

For over 20 years the Accord Centre has been a well loved day care centre for people with learning disabilities in the East End of Glasgow. Due to the Commonwealth Games the Accord Centre, situated in Dalmarnock is to make way for a new road to the Games site. We are told that due to the ‘economic climate’ there will be no new day care centre and instead we are being offered a hired room in the Bambury community centre (which was recently in financial difficulty).

“The Accord centre means everything to me, all my friends are there, we get a good laugh there…I don’t want to be in a community centre…I don’t know who will be coming in or out…I want a safe environment” ..Cheryl McArthur, service user

We feel very strongly that this is completely unaccaptable and demand that from the millions being invested into these Games a new day centre is the minimum that the people of Dalmarnock and the East End deserve from these Games, otherwise what is the benefit of this big international spectacle to the people of Glasgow?

Please help us spread the word and raise awareness of this fight. The Accord Day Care Centre, it is more than just a ‘centre’, this is where people go to meet up with there friends, get support doing activities which they enjoy, gaining easy access to health care facilities…

We are fighting hard for our loved ones, and we will not give up.

If you would like to support us in anyway, please get in contact via facebook, twitter or email ( savetheaccord[at]hotmail.co.uk )

The man in charge of the police response at the University of Glasgow protest has defended his officers after politicians and a student group criticised them for their ‘heavy handed’ response.

Superintendent Nelson Telfer made the comments to STV News following criticism from a former MSP, a Glasgow councillor and the Glasgow Student Representative Council over Tuesday’s protests.

Police were first called at around 10.30am by members of staff at the university. Staff there were dealing with the eviction of students who had been inside the Hetherington club for the past seven weeks. Over the next few hours, as the protesters left the inside of the building, the numbers of protesters outside swelled to around 150.

When asked if the police response – which is thought to have included around 80 officers, support vehicles and a helicopter – was disproportionate, Superintendent Telfer commented: “I would have to refute that in the strongest terms. Our officers’ response was proportionate to the situation and severe provocation that they sometimes faced today.

“I think it is of note there was only one arrest and that was after the incident. No people injured. No officers injured. In the strongest terms, I would say allegations of police brutality are absolute nonsense.”

Frances Curran, a former Scottish Socialist MSP, criticised the response. She said: “The deployment of at least 12 police vans, a force helicopter and large numbers of officers to enforce the cuts agenda of university principal Anton Muscatelli is scandalous misuse of police resources.

“This is surely a clear indication of the determination of the university and principal Muscatelli to bulldoze through his cuts agenda at any cost.”

Another to criticise was Martha Wardrop, a green councillor on Glasgow City Council. Backed up by party leader, Patrick Harvie MSP, she said: “Students occupying the Free Hetherington are taking part in a vital protest. I was disturbed to see police taking an active role in the attempted eviction, which served to inflame a volatile situation. I telephoned principal Muscatelli’s office to convey my views and explain that heavy-handed eviction attempts will only worsen relations between university management and the student body.”

The Glasgow Student Representative Council claimed that 80 police officers, 18 police vehicles and a police helicopter were at the scene.

‘Unacceptable’

Tommy Gore, president of the student group, said the presence of so many officers outside a university-owned property was “unacceptable”.

He added: “Whilst we support the university’s goal of turning the previously empty building into learning and teaching space, we cannot, in any way, see the justification for allowing such a disproportionally large amount of police onto our university campus.”

The protesters who had been inside the Hetherington club had been protesting against university principal Professor Muscatelli and proposed cuts of £20m at the university.

Postgraduate student Alice Coy was one of them. She said: “We’ve been occupying the building for seven weeks as part of an anti-cuts protest. We chose this building on purpose so that it was not an inconvenience to students as it closed a year ago.

“The security officers came in this morning to evict us, we’ve been given no warning. It’s very distressing and the university have been incredibly obstructive and refused to negotiate with us.”

The University of Glasgow, in a statement, said its security officers and Strathclyde Police were involved in evicting the students inside, as the building was due for refurbishment.

However, the university later retracted this statement, and police stressed they were not involved in any evictions.

A Glasgow University spokesperson said: “The University had previously written to the last remaining students occupying the Hetherington Building asking them to bring their protest to a peaceful conclusion. Since then, many students had left the occupation. But the continuing presence of occupiers in No 13 University Gardens was putting at risk plans the University has to refurbish the accommodation and to develop it for academic use.

“University staff entered 13 University Gardens this morning and asked the remaining occupiers to leave. The Police were then asked to attend when a group of protestors gathered outside. The occupiers left the building peacefully, and there were no serious incidents.

“In the afternoon a group of protestors has gathered in the vicinity of the University Senate Room. University staff are currently in discussion with them.”